SUN VALLEY, Idaho — Mikaela Shiffrin’s tumultuous season ended in triumph.
Shiffrin won the slalom at the World Cup finals Thursday, putting down two blistering runs on a course that got increasingly bumpy and rutted as the day wore on. Her time of 1:45.92 was more than a second better than Lena Duerr of Germany, and gave Shiffrin wins in her first and last slalom races this season — with a whole lot happening in between.
When Shiffrin crossed the finish line and saw the scoreboard, she shook her poles and a smile spread across her face.
‘It’s super meaningful to have this strong performance today,’ she said. ‘Sometimes you can win a race even if you didn’t ski your best. And today I felt like I really skied my best. It’s the best skiing I could possibly do, especially for these conditions, which are normally quite a challenge.
‘Ending the season with this level in slalom gives me a lot of energy,’ Shiffrin added. ‘It gives me energy to do the work. It feels like there’s a lot of work to do, but this gives me the inspiration to do that.’
The win was the 101st of Shiffrin’s World Cup career, extending her own record. It also got her over 500 total points for the season, an important benchmark for start positions next year, when race results will be a factor in Shiffrin’s Olympic plans.
Perhaps most improbably, it boosted Shiffrin to fourth in the season slalom standings. This despite missing four slalom races in the two months she was out recuperating from a crash during the giant slalom in Killington, Vermont, that left her with a deep gash in her oblique muscles.
In the six slalom starts Shiffrin did make on the World Cup circuit, she had four wins and finished on the podium in a fifth.
‘It’s a dream,’ Karin Harjo, Shiffrin’s personal coach, said. ‘There was a point in the middle of December where we were questioning if she was even coming back. It just speaks volumes to who she is, as person, as a skier, and all the hard work she puts in.’
Shiffrin’s crash occurred Nov. 30 and required a surgery in mid-December to prevent an infection. She didn’t even get back on snow until early January. She returned to the World Cup circuit at the end of January and, two weeks later, paired with Breezy Johnson to win the team combined at the world championships.
Two weeks after that, Shiffrin got her 100th World Cup win.
But the comeback was far from smooth. Shiffrin experienced PTSD with GS, and was having to navigate that while she recovered and resumed her training.
‘We could be here for days. Yeah, this one has been quite a roller coaster,’ Shiffrin said when asked to sum up the season. ‘There’s been some really thrilling moments, and some moments where I questioned if I should even be in the sport.’
She did not qualify to race the GS here, but she used that additional time to train and said earlier this week that she was in a good place. That was apparent in the first run.
Slalom is tricky because it requires speed, precision and total focus as you weave from one gate to the next, and Shiffrin is the best to ever do it. While other skiers appear to be attacking the course, Shiffrin flows, her lower body constantly swiveling and cutting.
She finished the first run with a commanding lead, 0.59 seconds. As she sat in the ‘hot seat’ reserved for the race leader, she watched as the P.A. announcer found a group of young girls dressed as Dalmatians ‘for Mikaela’s 101st win!’
‘I was like, `That’s so clever.’ But hopefully I don’t mess it up,’ Shiffrin said.
Far from it.
The weather in Sun Valley has been unseasonably warm the last few days, making for unpredictable conditions. The snow was soft in some spots, icy in others, and the Greyhawk course deteriorated with every race. By the time Shiffrin was in the start gate as the last racer of the day, there were ruts and grooves and bumps galore.
‘That inconsistency, it becomes a challenge to find rhythm,’ Harjo said. ‘It’s something we’ve been working really hard on in training specifically, actually seeking out ruts and grooves and challenging conditions so that she can ski with the confidence and with the ability that she has and take on the speed that she knows she can generate.’
Shiffrin started out of the gate strong and continued to pick up speed, leaning into every turn.
‘It was rough, but somehow with clean turns, the timing was OK. It was like one turn was just sort of forcing me into the next turn in the right way,’ Shiffrin said. ‘When I feel like that, it’s just so connected.’
Shiffrin also got a boost from the crowds, whose cheers grew louder the closer she got to the finish line. When she crossed, and the scoreboard confirmed she’d won, the fans roared.
‘I just feel in awe of the day,’ she said. ‘It’s like 100 was this reset moment and 101 is a restart. That’s the way I’m trying to see it.
‘There’s plenty of future left in my career, hopefully,’ added Shiffrin, who turned 30 two weeks ago. ‘It’s not the end, it’s not the beginning, it’s somewhere in the beautiful middle.’
And after where she’s been this season, it’s a great place to be.
Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.